these Russian soldiers who challenge the Kremlin

Every day for the past few weeks, videos of Russian servicemen speaking directly to Vladimir Putin have been posted on social media. Masked, they directly challenge the Russian president. “We are not pieces of meat“, denounce some of them. All share this feeling of being sent to almost certain death on the Ukrainian front.

“We are sent to the slaughterhouse”

“We did not receive any suitable training. We were sent (…) without having the skills, without artillery support, without communication, without a reconnaissance mission. We are sent to the slaughterhouse”, berates another unit. Dozens of such videos were sent from Ukraine, by units from all over Russia. This phenomenon is spreading and finding an echo in Russia, where soldiers’ wives relay their appeal to Vladimir Putin. So far, neither the Kremlin nor the Russian army have reacted.